<p>what does organic chemistry have in store? is it more on the memorization side or conceptual? how's pedersen compared to frechet? anything at all would be appreciated?</p>
<p>I would say o-chem is mostly memorization. I didn’t even find it as conceptual as Chem 1A. I got an A in Chem 1A, but I thought it was harder than 3A and I did worse on exams than in 3A. If you want to do well, review the reactions as much as you can. Never, never cram before exams and try to study a little bit (maybe 1 hour) each day. I’ve looked at some of Pedersen’s tests when I was studying for our exams and they didn’t seem that much harder than Frechet’s to me. Pedersen’s tests seem a little…quirky, like he puts lots of hints. And there were song lyrics on every page of one of the exams I looked at. I totally didn’t understand that. But anyway, he’s a pretty cool guy, though his lecture style isn’t too exciting.</p>
<p>Some people say that Pedersen is better than Fretchet but eh… I don’t know about that. Pedersen seemed pretty dry in 3al lectures. Don’t know if he is any different in 3a.</p>
<p>I would say that O-chem is more memorization than chem 1a but it can be conceptual. All the reactions can basically stem from basic knowledge of where electrons go and certain main reactions. Then it’s all about applying those reactions to synthesis and working with mechanism. I really liked it because it was like working out puzzles. Chem 1a was really easy for me so I consider it easier than 3a. But that was probably because it was mostly review and there were many chances for bonus points.</p>
<p>2 people just PM’ed me on this topic, so I thought I’d post my response on this thread.</p>
<p>Orginal Message:</p>
<p>You have nothing to worry about. Pedersen is a very fair professor. I just finished a semester of chem 3b/l and bio 1a/l and Pedersen made it very doable.</p>
<p>Here are my tips:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take great lecture notes. Write everything Pedersen says when he describes reactions and mechanisms because these issues will probably appear on your midterms. Most people miss points on his tests because they miss lecture or take horrible notes.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to the Student Learning Center for help. The tutors at the SLC are wonderful at boiling down lectures to “the essentials.”</p></li>
<li><p>Review your lecture notes for 15 minutes after each lecture. Silly, but it really works. It’ll make studying/ problem sets painless because recalling information won’t be as difficult. Repetition is key.</p></li>
<li><p>Most importantly, do all of the problems in his problem set book. They are all past exams and a very accurate representation of how his exam will be.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I wish you the best of luck with OCHEM. You’re in good hands! He’s easily the best professor I’ve had so far at Cal. If you have more specific questions about 3A/3B with Pedersen, let me know.</p>
<p>LOL. here’s some good ass advice. never cram.
i spent over 24 hours in a row studying chapter after chapter for frechet’s final. and managed to squeak by with a C. (did the same for both midterms) don’t ask me what happened because i’m thinking there was some major curving going on ha.
what i didn’t like about frechet was him spending so much time on the first few chapters which were basically Chem 1a in review and then near the end, he’s just zooming and gellin like a felon. i heard pederson was pretty cool and this guy sums up what i’ve read ^.</p>
<p>thanks for all your advice! </p>
<p>Beaur!</p>
<p>yeah, this is how i studied for an A-, but this was baaad</p>
<p>1st mt:
-went to 100% of classes, didn’t take notes just listened
-didn’t do anything until 2 weeks before midterm
-crammed by reading over lecture slides 2x and read book a week before midterm
-did a problem set a day for the last few days before the test
-got an A- on first midterm</p>
<p>2nd mt:
-went to like…70% of classes, still no notes
-didn’t do anything till 1 week before midterm
-knew i was screwed so i just looked over lecture slides, did 3 out of 5 psets and tried to memorize all the reactions in literally 2 days, and i failed
-got a C on the test and felt lucky that i passed</p>
<p>final:
-went to 100% of classes, no notes
-didn’t do anything till 2 weeks before and did lecture slides, book, all the psets including psets i didn’t do before. i studied about 5 hours a day for 2 weeks…and 10 hours a day the last 3 days
-actually memorized all the reactions by making a flowchart and memorizing it
-got an A on the final :)</p>
<p>so basically, if you’re lazy just start studying 2 weeks before the final every day and you’ll do fine. go to all the classes, make sure you know your reactions, and don’t fall behind like i did</p>
<p>^ how do u know u got an A on the final? lol</p>
<p>tips:</p>
<p>-write out the mechanisms to understand them
-understanding mechanisms by itself isn’t enough though, you also need to understand what mechanisms do because the ultimate goal of learning all of this stuff is for synthesis after all
-for chem 3A, watch out for the 2nd midterm, it’s the killer. avg this year (frechet) was below 50 i think.
-i liked frechet and his lecturing style with the tablet pc. however, he tests on a lot of stupid **** (scientist names, bond degree angles, bond lengths, etc.). those are just free points tho i guess; however, they’re very annoying. i didn’t have pedersen so i can’t compare to him. frechet posts all his notes online so you don’t even have to take notes in class, which is really awesome.</p>
<p>honestly, orgo is not hard. people are just lazy and don’t study until it’s too late. if you keep up with it you should get an A easily. the graders give a lot of partial credit as well, so everything is in your favor.</p>
<p>MechRocket is right. 3A is not that hard. I def. overestimated the difficulty of the class, and especially of the final. I got a good grade, but I feel I could have better used the time I spent studying for that class.</p>
<p>Yeah, definitely. It is pretty easy if you stay on top of it.
If you just review your mechanisms every so often and not like a week before the test, you’ll be golden.</p>
<p>I heard Pedersen doesn’t like using the book whereas Fretchet seems to love putting problems from the book in the midterms. So if you like reading the book, Fretchet is for you.</p>